绿花党参 lü hua dang shen

Codonopsis bicolor Nannfeldt.

Roots carrot-shaped, 10-15 × 1-1.5 cm. Stems 1-3 from one caudex, suberect, 30-70 cm tall; branches at lower part, sparsely hirsute or subglabrous. Leaves on main stems alternate, tending smaller and bractlike, those on branches opposite or subopposite and thus branches like pinnate leaves; blade broadly ovate, ovate, or lanceolate, 1.5-3.5(-5) × 0.8-3 cm, both surfaces hispidulous, base slightly cordate or rounded, margin crenate or subentire, apex acute or obtuse. Flowers 1-3, terminal on main stems and branches; pedicels 6-15 cm, subglabrous or lower part sparsely hispidulous. Calyx tube adnate to ovary up to middle, hemispheric, 3-4 × 10-13 mm, 10-ribbed, glabrous; lobes ovate, lanceolate, or oblong 10-15 × 6-8 mm, sparsely hispidulous near apex or occasionally glabrous abaxially, ciliate, sparsely crenate at margin, apex acute or obtuse. Corolla yellow-green, purplish only at base, campanulate, 1.7-2.5 × 2-3 cm, glabrous throughout, lobed to half; lobes triangular, 8-10 × 9-11 mm. Stamens glabrous; filaments slightly dilated at base, ca. 5 mm; anthers ca. 5 mm. Capsule ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Seeds numerous, brown-yellow, ellipsoid, wingless. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

● Alpine meadows or forest margins; 3000-4000 m. SE Gansu, S Ningxia (Jingyuan), E Qinghai (Huangyuan), Shaanxi (Taibai Shan), W Sichuan, E Xizang (Jomda), NW Yunnan (Dêqên).